Medical instruments and vertebral column stabilization systems of the type described at the outset are known for example from DE 20 2011 051 211 U1. Like the medical instrument known from U.S. Pat. No. 8,211,110 B1, the instrument described in DE 20 2011 051 211 U1 is coupled by snap-fitting its proximal end, that facing the patient, onto the holding part of the securing element, which may in particular take the form of a forked head that is assembled polyaxially on the securing part.
Snap-fitting the instrument onto the holding part of the securing element can typically be performed simply and reliably. However, it is frequently problematic to release the instrument once the securing element has been put in its final position in a bone part of a patient, for example in a pedicle of the patient.